Your Complete List of Early Action Deadlines for Every EA College

Early Action, or EA, has become a popular program among colleges in the United States. This admissions program allows students to apply to colleges and hear back from them early, but leaves them the option to apply elsewhere during the normal admissions timeline, compare options, and make a more informed decision about where to attend.

While not everyone chooses to apply somewhere under an early application program, there are notable benefits to making use of this timeline, from the potential security of knowing you’re already admitted to a college early in the process, to improved chances of acceptance at certain schools. It’s an option that’s well worth considering as you’re planning your approach to college applications.

Keeping track of deadlines during college application season can already be a challenge, and the EA process complicates your calendar further. Never fear! In this post, we’ve compiled a list of application deadlines for colleges with EA programs, as well as some helpful tips and background information to help you navigate the EA process.

Early Action: A Refresher

The “normal” timeline for college admissions involves submitting your college applications in the fall of your senior year of high school, hearing back from colleges in late March or early April, and having to make a decision about where to attend by May 1st. This timeline is known as the Regular Decision (RD) timeline.

However, you’ll also find variations on this typical timeline. In addition to the RD process, many colleges now also offer some kind of early application process, though which applicants can submit applications, have them assessed, and receive an admission decision much earlier.

If you apply under the early application option at a college, you’ll submit your application early, during the fall of your senior year of high school. Your application will be considered early, and you’ll receive a decision early, sometimes before your spring semester even starts. While you may be “deferred,” meaning that your application is pushed back to the RD round for further consideration before a decision is made, you may also be actually accepted or rejected at this point.

Early application programs come in two major types: Early Decision (ED) and Early Action (EA). There are a few other types of early application programs that you might encounter, and a given college may offer a variety of different application plans.

Some colleges offer rolling admissions, in which applications are evaluated and decisions are made as they’re received, rather than waiting for a standard application deadline and notification date. Some colleges offer a second, later round of ED, known as ED II. Special programs, such as Questbridge or special scholar programs, may have early application dates as well. However, ED and EA are the main options you’ll have to make choices about.

ED programs generally have strict rules; they’re single-choice, meaning that you can’t apply to any other schools early, and they’re binding, meaning that if you’re accepted, you’re contractually obligated to attend. EA programs are more flexible, and give students more freedom to delay a final decision and compare different admissions offers.

The defining feature of EA programs is that they’re not binding—if accepted, you still get to choose whether to attend that college, and you usually don’t have to make a decision right away. You can even apply to other colleges during the regular admissions round and wait for them to make admissions decisions before you make your final college choice.

Some EA programs are also not single-choice, meaning that they don’t ask you to refrain from applying to any other colleges early. However, some EA programs do have this restriction. This approach is known as Single-Choice Early Action (SCEA), or alternatively, Restricted Early Action (REA). If you apply to an SCEA program, you’re not allowed to apply to any other colleges under EA or ED programs.

The most popular due dates for EA applications are in November, either on November 1st or November 15th, or around December 1st. Top-tier, highly competitive schools are particularly likely to use one of these dates. However, plenty of colleges have earlier or later deadlines, so it’s essential to look up the dates for your particular school. We’ll give a full list of deadlines for EA schools at the end of this post.

Applying EA spreads out your application workload, demonstrates your strong interest in the college, and may improve your chances of being admitted at certain schools. If you’re accepted in the EA round, you get to celebrate and enjoy the security of already having one college option secured—and since EA isn’t binding, you can still consider offers from other colleges.

For more detailed information about EA and how to prepare for an EA application, visit these posts from the CollegeVine blog:

Tips for Early Action Applicants

If you’re interested in applying EA, it’s important to understand what the process entails, when your deadlines will be, and how the EA experience differs from the regular admissions process. As we’ve mentioned above, you can find tons of posts on the CollegeVine blog that cover every aspect of applying EA. Here are a few additional tips to get you started.

Tip #1: Remember, earlier application deadlines also mean that your standardized test scores, recommendations, and all other application components will need to be ready earlier, so be prepared. You’ll also have less time to bring up your GPA and rack up accomplishments. If you need a little more time to build a strong applicant profile, EA and other early application programs may not be for you.

Tip #2: Don’t stake your college prospects on one EA school; the admissions process is complex and unpredictable, and you may not be accepted. Always plan and prepare to apply to additional colleges besides your EA school, no matter how strong an applicant you are.

Tip #3: Take advantage of the opportunity EA gives you to compare different admissions offers. Even if you feel sure that your EA school is your first choice, it’s very common for students to change their minds, especially when factors like financial aid and admission to specific majors or programs are involved. There’s no downside to waiting to make your decision.

Tip #4: If you’re applying SCEA, carefully read and follow the restrictions; you can only apply to one school, even if the others aren’t as restrictive. Colleges sometimes share information about ED and SCEA applicants, and if you get caught breaking the single-choice rule, you may be summarily rejected or have acceptances rescinded by all the colleges involved.

Early Action Application Deadlines: The Full List

This list is organized chronologically according to application deadline. Under each application due date, you’ll find an alphabetical list of schools that use that due date as their EA application deadline. Alongside the college’s name, we’ve included when that college is expected to respond to EA applicants, if that information is available right now. We’ve also provided links to past CollegeVine blog posts about colleges we’ve discussed before.

Keep in mind that these colleges aren’t the only colleges that allow you to apply early. Other schools may also accept early applications under ED, rolling, or other application programs. The schools included here are those that specifically use EA terminology and do not have a rolling admissions process overall.

Remember, before you submit an application to any college, visit the college’s undergraduate admissions website and thoroughly read all the application instructions. Application dates and requirements may change later on or be more complicated than shown here. Also, schools may have ED or other early application programs in addition to EA, so when you submit your application, double-check that you’re submitting it within the correct program.

Good luck!

Want to know your real chances of admission?

Estimating your chance of getting into a college is not easy in today’s competitive environment. Thankfully, with our state-of-the-art software and data, we can analyze your academic and extracurricular profile and estimate your chances. Our profile analysis tool can also help you identify the improvement you need to make to enter your dream school.

January 15

Washington and Jefferson College

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Learning More

Did you find a college you’re interested in on this list? Your next step will be to research the requirements of that school’s particular EA program and plan out how you might fit an EA application to that school into your college planning timeline. In addition to resources like the college’s admissions office and your school guidance counselor, you can always come to the CollegeVine blog for more information about every aspect of your applications.

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Monikah Schuschu is an alumna of Brown University and Harvard University. As a graduate student, she took a job at the Harvard College Office of Financial Aid and Admissions, and discovered the satisfaction of helping students and parents with the often-baffling college admissions process. She also enjoys fiber art, murder mysteries, and amateur entomology.